Kerry Leads Bush in SRU Straw Poll

SPOTLIGHT

4/19/2004

Contact:
K.E. Schwab -- 724-738-2199; e-mail:
karl.schwab@sru.edu

KERRY
LEADS BUSH BY 12 PERCENT IN SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY STRAW
POLL

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Students at Slippery
Rock University favor Democratic presidential contender Sen. John
Kerry by more than 12 points over incumbent President George Bush
according to results from a three-day campuswide presidential straw
poll conducted.

The
SRU results gave 46.6 percent of the vote (198 votes) to Kerry;
33.9 percent (144) to Bush. The results mirror a March 13-23
scientific poll conducted by Harvard University’s Institute
of Politics in which Kerry bested Bush 48 percent to 38 percent
– for a 10 percent differential. The SRU straw poll was held
April 13-15.

Ralph
Nader, running as an independent gathered 32 votes at SRU (7.5
percent), slightly higher than the 5 percent approval in the
Harvard poll. The Green Party, which has not yet named a nominee,
scored only 4 votes (1 percent) at SRU.

The
Pennsylvania primary election is April 27.

In
the three-day SRU voting, conducted as a joint venture by the SRU
Young Democrats, the SRU College Republicans and a supporter of
third-party candidates, 425 SRU students cast their ballots. The
vote tallies show 242 Democratic students cast votes (56.9
percent), while 144 Republicans participated (33.9 percent). SRU
has a student enrollment of 7,789, with 5.4 percent student turnout
for the straw poll.

Dr.
Itzi Meztli, assistant professor of English and adviser to the
Young Democrats, and Sharon Sykora, assistant professor of
government and public affairs, helped the students organize the
voting, noting that while unscientific, it would provide a measure
of campus support for the forerunners in the November
election.

The
Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, a nonpartisan
group that studies voting patterns, reports 29 percent of those
ages 18 to 24 voted in the 2000 election. Overall voter turnout was
near 50 percent in 2000.